Pena Oral Traditions:
Los Cuentos y los Chismes Nos Ayudan Tambien
stories and gossip also help
Los Cuentos y los Chismes Nos Ayudan Tambien
stories and gossip also help
The handing down of family history by word of mouth, the oral tradition, is a very important aspect of human knowledge. Oral tradition precedes the written word. The Old Testament's oral traditions, for example, start around 1857 BC when Abraham takes his son to sacrifice at the altar. Yet it wasn't until around 300 BC - some 1500 years later - that those family stories were written down.
We have a very high respect for documentation. But we also have a great amount of respect for the value of oral tradition. By the time the stories of the Old Testament were written down, there were differences with over a thousand years of being handed down by word of mouth by different groups.
Scripture scholars tell us that there are four major traditions to the stories. The Priestly tradition, for example, tells us the story as handed down by the ancient priests. The same story as handed down by the other traditions can be quite different. The Priestly tradition version of the stories tended to emphasize the details of the rituals of their religious practices when retelling the stories.
So, centuries later, when they began to write down the stories, these early scholars encountered all these various stories -- sometimes not in agreement with each other. They did not choose one over another. They included them all. This is an important lesson to us writing down our family stories.
The allegiance that we should have is not to a story that makes us look good or to a document that gives us a specific date or spelling. Documents start from the spoken word or a human recollection! The allegiance we should have when writing down our stories should not be allegiance to a story or a document that we like or would prefer if it were fact, but to the painstaking work of researching stories and documents so we can cross-reference the information we have and arrive at a credible understanding of the past. Our allegiance is, and should be, to a deeper understanding of ourselves. Cross-referencing remembered accounts and documents with each other is the basis for achieving more credible and accurate accounts.
Cross-referencing documents with remembered accounts is easier when an event is more recent. The further back you go, the less information there is, the more fragile memories are, and the more scarce documents and memories are. I admire the work of the researchers who dedicate themselves to this cause of research and cross-referencing to enlighten us about ourselves.
The PCDL Reunion is doing all of us a great service by providing opportunities to share oral traditions and documentation. This is increasing the possiblilities for cross-referencing.
We believe the Pena-Cano-Duran-Lugo reunion is a great time for all to think about their family's oral traditions and discuss them. <<Los cuentos y los chismes nos ayudan tambien.>> This is a manner of cross-referencing.
We have put up a special PCDL Reunion - Discussion Page for the reunion so you can discuss with each other, pro and con, about family oral traditions. We know that you may think about things and days later make a connection in your mind or have a question bubble up. So we will leave the PCDL Reunion - Discussion Page up even after the reunion is over. Who knows when inspiration will strike?
Although Juan-Paz will be making a formal presentation at the reunion based on as much research as he could find. We will steal a little of his thunder (or maybe whet your appetite to hear his presentation) by presenting his informal quick version of the Pena roots. It is presented here to familiarize everyone with that particular oral tradition but also in the hope of stimulating discussion about it.
We have a very high respect for documentation. But we also have a great amount of respect for the value of oral tradition. By the time the stories of the Old Testament were written down, there were differences with over a thousand years of being handed down by word of mouth by different groups.
Scripture scholars tell us that there are four major traditions to the stories. The Priestly tradition, for example, tells us the story as handed down by the ancient priests. The same story as handed down by the other traditions can be quite different. The Priestly tradition version of the stories tended to emphasize the details of the rituals of their religious practices when retelling the stories.
So, centuries later, when they began to write down the stories, these early scholars encountered all these various stories -- sometimes not in agreement with each other. They did not choose one over another. They included them all. This is an important lesson to us writing down our family stories.
The allegiance that we should have is not to a story that makes us look good or to a document that gives us a specific date or spelling. Documents start from the spoken word or a human recollection! The allegiance we should have when writing down our stories should not be allegiance to a story or a document that we like or would prefer if it were fact, but to the painstaking work of researching stories and documents so we can cross-reference the information we have and arrive at a credible understanding of the past. Our allegiance is, and should be, to a deeper understanding of ourselves. Cross-referencing remembered accounts and documents with each other is the basis for achieving more credible and accurate accounts.
Cross-referencing documents with remembered accounts is easier when an event is more recent. The further back you go, the less information there is, the more fragile memories are, and the more scarce documents and memories are. I admire the work of the researchers who dedicate themselves to this cause of research and cross-referencing to enlighten us about ourselves.
The PCDL Reunion is doing all of us a great service by providing opportunities to share oral traditions and documentation. This is increasing the possiblilities for cross-referencing.
We believe the Pena-Cano-Duran-Lugo reunion is a great time for all to think about their family's oral traditions and discuss them. <<Los cuentos y los chismes nos ayudan tambien.>> This is a manner of cross-referencing.
We have put up a special PCDL Reunion - Discussion Page for the reunion so you can discuss with each other, pro and con, about family oral traditions. We know that you may think about things and days later make a connection in your mind or have a question bubble up. So we will leave the PCDL Reunion - Discussion Page up even after the reunion is over. Who knows when inspiration will strike?
Although Juan-Paz will be making a formal presentation at the reunion based on as much research as he could find. We will steal a little of his thunder (or maybe whet your appetite to hear his presentation) by presenting his informal quick version of the Pena roots. It is presented here to familiarize everyone with that particular oral tradition but also in the hope of stimulating discussion about it.
This is an editorial by Antonio Santiago Franco who admittedly is not an expert in genealogy or Terlingua. You folks who know better go to the discussion page and set the record straight.
